With a little cry Laura Bentley drew back.
"I'm going right through to the end," cried Dick desperately. "Then you can throw cold water over me—-if you must. Laura, I love you, and that love is nearly all of my life! I ask you to become a soldier's bride—-mine!"
"And—-and—-is that what has scared you?" asked Laura in a very low voice.
"Yes!"
"What a pitiful coward you are, then, to be a candidate for a commission in the Army," laughed Laura Bentley softly.
"But you—-you haven't answered me."
"Why, Dick, I've never had another thought, in six years, than that
I loved you!"
"Laura! You love me?"
"Why, of course, Dick. What has ailed your eyes and your reasoning powers?"
With a glad cry, Prescott gathered his betrothed in his arms, claiming a lover's privilege.